Best of the Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher's memorable quotes

9 April 2013 - 05:41am

Margaret Thatcher's best-remembered quotes

"It will be years - and not in my time - before a woman will lead the party or become prime minister." - 1974, speech.

"I stand before you tonight in my green chiffon evening gown, my face softly made up, my fair hair gently waved. The Iron Lady of the Western World? Me? A cold war warrior? Well, yes - if that is how they wish to interpret my defence of values and freedoms fundamental to our way of life." - 1976, speech after Moscow dubbed her the Iron Lady.

"No one would have remembered the good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions. He had money as well." - 1980, interview.

"If a woman like Eva Peron with no ideals can get that far, think how far I can go with all the ideals that I have." - 1980, interview.

"To those waiting with bated breath for that favourite media catchphrase, the U-turn, I have only one thing to say, you turn if you want to. The lady's not for turning." - 1980, Conservative party conference.

"We knew what we had to do and we went about it and did it. Great Britain is great again." - 1982, after the end of the Falklands conflict.

"This is a man I can do business with." - 1984, after her first meeting with Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev.

"I owe nothing to women's lib." - 1982, interview.

"We are simply asking to have our own money back." - 1984, demanding a budget rebate for Britain at a European Union summit.

"I think, historically, the term 'Thatcherism' will be seen as a compliment." - 1985, speech.

"There is no such thing as Society. There are individual men and women, and there are families." - 1987, interview.

"I don't mind how much my ministers talk, as long as they do what I say." - 1987, interview.

"I was told beforehand my arrival was unscheduled, but on the way here I passed a local cinema and it turns out you were expecting me after all. The billboard read The Mummy Returns." - 2001, speech at a Conservative general election, her first since 1987.

What others said

"She sounded like the book of Revelations read out over a railway station public address system by a headmistress of a certain age wearing calico knickers." - 1979, TV presenter Clive James describing Thatcher on television.

"She is the Enid Blyton of economics. Nothing must be allowed to spoil her simple plots." - 1980, Liberal Democrat peer Lord Holme.

"She is the best man in England." - 1983, Ronald Reagan.

"I am thoroughly in favour of Mrs Thatcher's visit to the Falklands. I find a bit of hesitation, though, about her coming back." - 1983, lawyer, playwright John Mortimer.

"What more does this housewife want from me? My balls on a plate?" - 1988, Jacques Chirac is caught on an open mic during negotiations with Thatcher in Brussels.